LIVERPOOL, England - (CBS) When Beatlemania was in full bloom, so was the swooning of young ladies over the Fab Four.

But who got the most girls? Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison or Ringo Starr?

"Well," revealed Ringo in an exclusive Early Showinterview from the Beatles' hometown of Liverpool, England Friday. "Paul, actually. Paul the most. Because he was just so darn cute!"

"But, in America,"remarked Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez, "you were the cute, cuddly, teddy bear."

"I was the one in America," Ringo agreed. "Yes, I was Mr. America. I loved America, because they just went for me, and it was great!"

Starr and Rodriguez were in Liverpool's newly restored, historic St. George's Hall on the first day of the city's year as Europe's official cultural capital -- as Starr's latest CD, "Liverpool 8," was hitting store shelves.

The album's name refers to the post office designation for the part of Liverpool where Ringo grew up, and the disc is a quasi-autobiography.

Rodriguez told Ringo, "(Fellow co-anchor) Julie Chen and I were watching in the studio, and we got misty-eyed. It's this beautiful, melancholic tour of your life and your career."

"It started with Dave, Dave Stewart," Ringo explained, "and I wrote the song. He had this idea of doing an autobiography. So I just went through what I did. I was a sailor first."

He says the CD depicts "a man's life. I worked on the railways before that, but we couldn't rhyme it with anything. You know. So it's not in!"

That was greeted by laughter from the audience.

"That was my first job," Starr continued. "And then on the boats. And then I was in a factory, like it says. ... And you know the rest."

Being a Beatle was "a lot of fun," Ringo understated. "It was great. And we made great music. You know, I was an only child, and suddenly I had three brothers. So for me it was incredible."

But, "I don't think about it every day. It's not something you do. You don't think about it every day. You don't wake up saying, 'Oh, what about those days?' You have to sort of get into this day, you know what I mean? I'm trying to get into this day now.

"But the joy is, and the blessing, at 13, I wanted to be a drummer in a band, which I achieved, and I wanted to play with good players, which I achieved, and I'm still doing it. So, the dreams are still coming true."

Ringo has been married to actress Barbara Bach for 27 years.

The audience clapped and howled when he was asked it that's his biggest accomplishment, to which Ringo kidded, "You may be clapping, but you don't have to live with her!

"But it's a blessing, you know. I always say, you know, i love the woman, and I'm blessed that she loves me," prompting a long "ahh" from the crowd, made up mostly of college students.

Ringo says John "was an incredible man, and nobody played guitar like he did. Or wrote those songs. He was great.":

George, he says, "was my friend. Yeah."

Asked by Rodriguez if the odds had improved from the 50 / 50 he;'d given another interviewer recently that he and McCartney would perform together again, Ringo said with a smirk that the odds remained the same, then added, "People still say that. How crazy are they? You're going down the street, and they say, 'Hey, when you getting back together?' Well, it's a bit tough right now!" John and George are, of course, dead.

Ringo says he sees John's widow, Yoko Ono on occasion, most recently in Iceland, where they attended the John Lennon Lights of Peace.

Tomorrow, he will perform in the spectacular Liverpool The Musical: The Greatest Story Ever Told at the ECHO Arena, alongside Dave Stewart, Echo And The Bunnymen, Pete Wylie, the RLPO and 400 singers.

The last time the 67-year-old drummer performed in Liverpool was at the Empire Theatre in 1992.

Speaking exclusively to the ECHO last month, he said he was looking forward to returning to headline the 2008 opening events.

He said: “The good thing about it is, because the city’s Capital of Culture, they will get into lots of other situations to present Liverpool in an incredible light.”

The drummer’s involvement led to American TV network giant CBS broadcasting its two-hour breakfast show from Liverpool today to viewers across the USA.

The 40-minute People’s Opening will take place at St George’s Plateau, starting at 8.08pm (20:08) and will include Liverpool band The Wombats, aerial performers, hundreds of schoolchildren, air cannons, fireworks and guitarists.

Ringo will perform his new single Liverpool 8, and today we print the song’s lyrics so readers attending the event can sing along.

It chronicles Ringo’s early working life, from his teenage years as a sailor and factory hand, to his time in Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, the red lights of Hamburg, and becoming a Beatle.

It mentions the Shea Stadium concert in New York in 1966 and features the lyrics: “When I look back, it was cool for those four boys from Liverpool.”

And the 67-year-old Beatles legend laughs when I say “Welcome back, la” in my best Scouse.

“La – yeah, how are yer, Liverpool ECHO?”

Ringo has lost none of his lad-next-door charm.

And despite an accent tinged with a US drawl there is every now and then in his phraseology a bit of Thomas the Tank Engine.

“It’s true – I am sentimental and I am still on the journey.”

He was referring to the first solo album he made called Sentimental Journey.

In honour of the Dingle he featured his local pub The Empress, located near his childhood homes in nearby Madryn Street and Admiral Grove on the cover.

To this day the pub – in Liverpool 8 – is a bit of a Starr shrine

Sporting a leather jacket, lilac scarf and some sparkling earrings teetotaller Ringo is the picture of health.

Gone are the rings that turned plain Richard Starkey into Ringo Starr. He gave up bling two years ago.

But he was clearly delighted to be back home.

“I was going to stay in the Hard Days Night Hotel – but it isn’t finished,” he said.

Ringo was still buzzing from a nostalgic trip around his old school.

“ I enjoyed it. Just me – taken around by the headmaster.

“When I first went there it was called Dingle Secondary Modern. Now it’s Shorefields High School.

“When I first went there – there were about five kids.

“Now everything’s changed and it made me realise just how much the city, too, has altered since I Iived here in the 50s and 60s.

“I remember the city was damp and I got TB and I spent some time in Heswall.

“My message to Liverpool is support Capital of Culture – get out there and give it all you’ve got.”

Ringo said he did feel nostalgic when people talked to him about places he played with and without The Beatles.

“Someone mentioned Litherland Town Hall and those memories came back.”

And he said he loved sending a link to New York from St George’s Hall.

“When I was younger they wouldn’t have let me in here,” he added. He said he was focused on the two important launches which have brought him back to Liverpool – the St George’s plateau Capital of Culture launch.